Intro
TL;DR: One of the myriad of IEMs from the brand I most love to hate, the KZ ED9 offers an otherwise excellent budget package were it not for its manufacturer’s poor (if not outright lack of) quality control.
Before I begin I would like to thank George at Gearbest.com for providing the review sample of the Xiaomi Pistons 3.0 shown in this review. Please note that I am neither affiliated with Gearbest or any of its staff, nor am I being paid for writing this review. Unless otherwise specified, everything you see written in this review are my own honest opinion, so please take that with a grain of salt. All photos you see in this review are also my own unless otherwise specified. Thanks!
Knowledge Zenith, otherwise known as KZ, is as the title says – an enigma. That’s because we don’t really have that much information about them, and also because they’ve never bothered to release any of that. All we know is that they’re a Chinese manufacturer that makes a crap ton of ultra-cheap IEMs that they sell through online marketplaces like Aliexpress. That, and they have a massive cult following on Head-Fi that practically worship the brand with every post they make on the Asian brand thread or their official appreciation thread.
But I’m gonna get straight to the point. I don’t like KZ. I’m not gonna lie about that. I don’t like their lack of presence as a company. I don’t like their lack of ways to contact them. But I couldn’t ignore the cultish hype. It had me curious as to if they really were worth the continuously-spreading hype. And just a few weeks ago, the opportunity presented itself. And so here I am, reviewing one of the many IEMs from the brand I love to hate. Will they stand up to my expectations? Find out after the jump.
